Civic education and critical pedagogy (Aufgabenfelder und Institutionen lebenslangen Lernens Teil 2)

The seminar will address the pressing need for intensive civic education for adults in modern society, especially in the challenging context of Europe today. The extreme  right-wing  populism in Europe has been increasing, populism, nationalism and xenophobia as well. The fear of identity loss and rejection of diversity are present even among young people. Euroscepticism is growing and  strengthening, as well as tendencies that represent a threat for European democracy and for the achieved level of human rights. These tendencies became worse after the break out of the financial crisis, and even more after the migrant crisis emerged in many European countries. Global awareness and global mind-set, solidarity, value of interculturalism and tolerance are also jeopardized.

Different concepts, terms, their meaning, content and  relationships in the field will be discussed and compared: political education, civic education, active citizenship, global citizenship.
Additionally, main theories – ‚old‘ and ‚new‘ ones – from the famous Paulo Freire´s ‚pedagogy of the oppressed‘ and public pedagogy will be studied. But also main ideas of the modern authors like Henry A. Giroux, Gerd Biesta and Elisabeth Ellsworth will be discussed. The concept of public pedagogy will be presented and explored, with  some considerations of the COVID-19 crisis and its influence on both, political paradigm and civic activism.
Various examples from Europe and the global context will be presented, as well as civic  actions as a new form of political education (so called ‚experienced democracy‘), aiming the cognitive and emotional outcomes as well as behavioural changes in terms of increased agency of  students.

This seminar will be held on a weekly basis. 
More information and registration on WueStudy.